Friday, June 26, 2009

Someone tell me why / did you have to go / and leave my world so cold?

I suppose it's only right that I pay respects to the late Michael Joseph Jackson (and, less appropriately but no less importantly, the late Farrah Fawcett) with an entry title featuring his own lyrics (a few lines from "You Are Not Alone," one of his songs during my own childhood that I particularly latched on to). I won't devote a whole post to this strange realization of the "Rule of Three" (that is, the death of three famous people all within days of each other: in this case, Ed McMahon, Fawcett and Jackson), because I feel like the media, the Twittersphere and everyone else has covered and is covering enough of it already. Not that I don't mourn these deaths and sympathize with the families, friends and fans who survive these celebrities -- I just don't want to repeat ad nauseum what everyone else is already saying. Besides, it's kind of harsh to admit at this juncture, but after awhile, the constant barrage of news, tweets, tickers and articles kind of becomes too much, and soon enough you just don't want to hear about it anymore.

Back to last weekend: The trip to my old stomping grounds and my parents' camp in Upstate New York was relaxing and a fun getaway. We celebrated Father's Day, my grandparents' anniversary, and my grandmother's 81st birthday. One of my dad's friends from back in college whose family we kind of grew up with was present, as well as the usual suspects: Aunt Mo and my maternal grandparents. My dad's friend, Ed, had brought his yellow lab, Kovie (short for Shostakovich, the Russian composer), who surprisingly got along quite well with Maggie. Darren finally got his birthday present, a fishing pole and a tackle box complete with lures, sinkers, bobbers, and pliers. We went out in the canoe a couple times and tried our luck -- Darren nabbed over a dozen little perch, rock bass, and sunfish, while I just got one baby perch the whole weekend. The weather was cloudy and rainy for the most part, no different than it's been in New England for the entire month of June.

I really don't understand what's up with this dreadful weather. I heard on the radio reports that this whole month we've had less than a week of sunny days. I thought that after this week it'd be behind us, but looking at the 10-day forecast proved otherwise: more thunderstorms, rain, and clouds expected at least until next Sunday! Darren and I are hoping to do more fishing/canoeing with Igor and get down to Narragansett, R.I., to the Francises' beach house to do some grilling and quahogging again, but with this weather, it might only turn out miserable. We've also booked a three-day stay in South Portland, Me., for a July 4 weekend (we both get July 3 off since the Fourth is on a Saturday) at Old Orchard Beach. Also on tap is the Philippine Food Festival on July 12 in Quincy, which I'm especially looking forward to, because other than Darren's mom's cooking, I've never really gotten to have any authentic, traditional Filipino food. I'm sure Darren will enjoy the festival as well, since I'm sure he misses the real deal -- he likes what I try to recreate, but I'm sure it pales in comparison to traditional fare. We learned about the festival from an ad in Planet Philippines, a free newspaper featuring news from the Philippines that we sometimes pick up when we visit Super 88, the Asian market in the BU area.

Other than that, Darren's enjoying his job -- he got today off as part of the "980" plan. As for me, I just recently celebrated my one-year anniversary working at Boston Productions. I couldn't have wished for a better job right out of college, and I've learned and accomplished so much already. I have a feeling there's a lot more in store.

1 Comments:

My my my. Ms. Petty, your prose on themyriad.blogspot.com is inspiring, and I have to share that I always look forward to your posts, especially your poetry. You must have a beautiful soul, and a profound aura. I hope to meet you one day if I ever make it to the northeast. Please, don't leave such long lapses between your posts! I insist that you continue to pour out your soul onto these digital pages, like a roiling torrent of water from a faucet.